


Firetongue

by Tikor



Category: Exalted
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7067248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Language and the Righteous Devil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Firetongue

In the beginning of language, far before humans were created by the Primordials, all beings spoke a single language. Today we call that language Old Realm. In time, after the Primordials were defeated and humanity ruled Creation, the mutability of humans introduced linguistic drift on such a wide scale that some dialects of Old Realm were rendered unintelligible to other dialects, and restricted trade in the Order Conferring Trade Pattern. Also of concern were the archaic dialects used by the Exalted survivors of the Primordial War, centuries older than their oldest mortal citizens, not being intelligible to the common populace that they ruled. To make language more suitable for stability, four directional languages were introduced during the First Age. Seatongue for the West, Skytongue for the North, Forest-tongue for the East, and Firetongue for the South. In the most active trade region of the near-east, also known as the River Provinces, an amalgam of them all emerged a few centuries later, named Riverspeak. 

In Firetongue, ritual phrases were added by the Exalted creator to surreptitiously be prayers to that Exalted personally, thus granting her the mystic benefits of a Cult that did not need her constant attention to nurture. The phrases call out the Righteous Devil by name. She is said to avenge wrongdoings with twin flame cannons, then disappear into the sea or steppe or desert. "May the Righteous Devil find me if I am lying." "You'd best not be cheating me! The Righteous Devil will know." "Be good for your mother or the Righteous Devil will find you in your beds!" 

These sayings lasted far beyond the initial Exalt's lifetime, for she was cut down during the Usurpation. Like all misdirected prayers they made their way to the general fund of Yu-Shan's Celestial Bureaucracy to be distributed among the less affluent gods. And they may have influenced the average Southern denizen of Creation's habitual, quick, and morally unfiltered resort to violence. Only recently has a figure fitting the Righteous Devil's description emerged, two blazing flame cannons, an intensely understood notion of righteousness, and a penchant for disappearing completely once murderous justice has been dealt. She has not called herself the Righteous Devil, but the criminal and the unjust take much more notice of the stock sayings in these days than they ever used to. None in Yu-Shan have bothered to check the ambrosia and quintessence ledgers to see where the Essence of the Righteous Devil's prayers have been landing lately.


End file.
